Hold On To Me
by brandnewstart
Summary: [Hiatus] "Never underestimate the simple, yet undeniable power, of human love." / Two humans in a world of monsters - Stiles and Lydia's relationship as it progresses, taking off from when she knocked on his door in Master Plan.
1. Comfort

I'm not quite sure what this is. I just felt the _need _to write something about Stiles and Lydia because their ship/love/potential is so freaking underestimated and I hate it.

I'm planning to make this, I don't know, 10+ chapters-long or something, but only if you like it so please please _please_, review if you do want me to continue this because, seriously, feedback is the only thing that keeps a writer going.

Oh, I'm not English so I apologize in advance for any grammar mistake!

Enjoy!

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Lydia didn't know what it was that made her go seek comfort in Stiles in the first place.

Since after she helped Peter Hale resurrect, and oh how insane thinking it still sounded, while everybody else was half drunk at her birthday party, all of her visions had someone started to make sense, everything started to fall into place as she understood that the secret her friends were keeping from her was probably much bigger than she could handle.

She was scared, she was confused. She was lonely.

Maybe she just felt like Stiles was the only one somehow still attached to reality. He knew everything, he most likely knew more than she did, but somehow, he managed to stay sane, to not freak out, to not let the events lead him away.

The look they had shared during the lacrosse game just the day before felt, not only unnaturally natural, but so simple, so normal, so _safe_.

They were human. No matter what, in all that chaos, they were still human.

She knocked softly on Stiles' bedroom door – his father had easily let her in, a mix of surprise and paternal pride on his face, if only he knew. Nobody answered, and she knocked again with her right hand, clutching the key to Jackson's house tightly in her left one.

"Dad, I-" Stiles stopped dead in his tracks. "Lydia?" A look of utter surprise on his almost skeleton-thin, bruised face.

Lydia was taken aback by the prominent dark mark on his cheek, he looked so tired and lost. "Hi. Your father let me in." She said softly, looking right into his chocolate brown eyes.

"He did?" he asked, almost to himself. "I mean, of course he did."

Stiles gave a faint smile, motioning towards the inside of his bedroom. "Do you wanna come in?"

Lydia nodded, slowly walking through the door, letting her arm slightly brush Stiles', and entering the room.

"They won't let me see him," she sobbed, her voice weak, shaky.

Stiles immediately knew she was talking about Jackson – who else. He sighed.

"I need to give him something," she continued, her trembling hands clutching Jackson's key ever more tightly. "He kept asking for it back."

Stiles approached her slowly. She had her back turned to him and he didn't want to scare her. Her shoulders were shaking uncontrollably and she was sobbing quietly. Stiles gently put his hand on her shoulder.

Lydia didn't falter. A few seconds passed and she turned to him, she was still trembling, her lower lip was quivering, but there was no sign of tears in her eyes, only fear and something else Stiles could not quite place.

"I'm-I'm sorry, Lydia," he tried, but his own voice was shaky and hoarse. He tried to clear his throat but it was like he couldn't even swallow, like he was petrified, and in a much worse way than when the kanima attacked him, because then he knew he just had to wait until he regained power over his arms, and legs, but now... now, he felt even more hopeless, like whatever was blocking him, had no solution. Like it wasn't going to wear out in a couple of hours, like it was _never_ going to wear out. He was far too damaged to ever be fixed.

Lydia shook her head, looking down. She understood.

"Stiles, I know everything."

Stiles' eyes widened, his heart thumping uncontrollably in his chest. He didn't know whether to be surprised at the fact that she _knew_, or excited for the fact that it was probably the first time he had ever heard her say his name with such tenderness, with those beautiful and lost green eyes looking up at him.

For the first time in his life, he was at a loss for words.

"You need to tell me where they brought him." Lydia said, with a newly found steadiness in her voice, cutting through the silence. "I can save him."

Gasping, Stiles realized. She was willing to risk her own life for his? "Wha-_what_? _No_!" he shouted angrily, but Lydia didn't even flinch. "Are you freaking kidding me?" he laughed, but it was a dry laugh, bitter. "That's too dangerous, okay? Actually, it's _worse_ than dangerous! You could _die_, Lydia, _die_, do you get that? _Do you_?"

He hovered over her almost menacingly, but she knew Stiles could never hurt her. She wouldn't budge. "I won't."

Stiles scoffed. She sounded so confident, so calm.

"No, Lydia, Lydia, _Lydia_," he chanted her name, it was so sweet on his lips. He sighed, agitated, running a hand through his short hair. "You need to understand, okay. Death doesn't happen to you, it happens to everyone around you, to all the people left standing at your funeral, trying to figure out how they're gonna live the rest of their lives now without you in it! Your parents, your friends, _everyone_... do you get _that_?" He wasn't really shouting, but his voice was thicker, a few octave higher than usually. Then it got impossibly lower, gentle, it was almost a whisper. "And if you die... Lydia, if you die I'll be devastated."

Lydia looked taken aback by the fierceness of his words, by how pained he looked. "Stiles, I-" she stopped. She wanted to say that everything was going to be okay, that nothing was going to happen to her, that she was going to be safe. But she couldn't – her mind still needing to fully wrap around the idea that she was having such a passionate argument as this with Stiles of all people. It made no sense and completely sense at the same time.

Stiles shook his head, he looked on the verge of tears. "Lydia, you can't make promises, okay, you just _can't_. And we... we're not like them, okay? We don't heal, we don't," he gulped. "... run fast, or jump high, we... I don't even... we're humans, just humans. And humans can die so, _so_ easily, I-I-" he couldn't even finish his own sentence, he was trying too hard to hold back the tears. Thinking that something could possibly happen to Lydia, that she could get hurt again was too much for him. She had never even been his and she probably was never going to be and yet, he was deadly afraid of losing her.

Lydia reached out to Stiles with trembling hands. _Humans_. They were human. He knew. He understood. In that messed up world their friends had forced on them, he was the only one who could truly understand what she was going through.

For the first time in her life, Lydia thanked whatever higher force existed, and she thanked them for Stiles. He was going to keep her sane, just as she did to him.

And through his tears and her sobs, with their bodies shaking like leaves in the wind, she hugged him. And she finally let herself feel something again.

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Review/follow if you want cookies! ;)


	2. Courage

Boo-yaaaaah! Yes, I've changed the title to the story... I just feel like this one is much more fitting, I felt like I chose the other one in a bit of a rush, just because it was a phrase of the song I was listening while writing the first chapter (it was from The Wanted's Heart Vacancy, by the way, it's a really lovely song and I suggest you to give it a try if you don't know it already).

Anyhow, thank you so much to everyone that read/reviewed/favorited/followed this story, any kind of feedback is truly appreciated and makes me want to update as soon as I can so please keep it up!

Again, sorry for any mistake but English isn't my native language, enjoy this chapter!

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Stiles couldn't quite wrap his mind around the fact that Lydia Martin was hugging him, willingly and spontaneously, right then and there, holding onto him for dear life.

Maybe it was because they both were too shaken up and needed something to help them stop feeling so hopelessly numb, but that didn't change the fact that the girl he has been in love with since he could remember was in his room, hugging him like her like life depended on it.

He could feel her heartbeat against his chest, it was soft and relaxing, like a lullaby. He lost himself in her scent and her warmness, tentatively putting his arms around her and hugging her back, his chin resting gently on her head.

They stayed like that for what felt like an eternity, in a silence that didn't feel awkward at all, it felt just _right_.

Lydia sniffed quietly, looking up at Stiles but not moving an inch away from his embrace.

Her pleading eyes, so glossy and beautiful, were it for him.

He sighed. "I'm coming with you." Was all he said, giving in. He would always give in to her.

Lydia smiled sweetly at him, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "Thank you, Stiles."

Stiles nodded, sighing again. He took the keys to his Jeep from his desk and swiftly led the way downstairs. His father was already asleep on the couch, he had hoped to eventually talk to Stiles, congratulating him for the lacrosse game, and just relishing the time he could spend with his son, especially after the events of the night before.

Scott had texted Stiles some time earlier that night, telling him that they had brought Jackson's transforming body to an abandoned warehouse just out of Beacon Hills. Stiles drove in complete silence, a million thoughts going through his mind – he couldn't think of something that a worse case scenario immediately popped up into his head. Lydia just kept looking out of the window, at the darkness that enveloped everything that night, almost as the city knew everything terrible that was going on. Her hands were on her lap, still clutching Jackson's key.

From time to time, Stiles would turn his head to look at her, Lydia could sense his gentle eyes on her. She would smile, not once glancing away from car's window. Her faint smile would somehow reassure him and he would put his eyes back on the road and keep driving.

It took them a bit over half an hour to get to the warehouse. Stiles stopped the car just outside of its entrance, looking apprehensively over at Lydia. Whatever they were going to do, it was up to her.

Lydia opened the passenger door and got out of the car, Stiles followed suit.

She was still clutching Jackson's key in her trembling hands and Stiles took them in his bigger ones, caressing them, looking straight into her eyes as he tried to soothe her.

Lydia nodded her head gently – she was ready – and Stiles took one of her hands in his as they proceeded to walk into the building.

They walked slowly, carefully, the silence was deafening and threatening, no sign of their friends whatsoever.

As they advanced further, hiding behind the props, they finally spotted Scott.

Lydia gasped. Scott was in his werewolf form and she had never witnessed it until then. Her heart was beating frantically, and in that moment she felt extremely weak, extremely scared.

Stiles didn't say anything, he just held her hand tighter in his, drawing circles on the back of it, willing her to calm down.

She gripped the key more tightly. "I'm okay. I'm okay," she tried to reassure both Stiles and herself, drawing in a sharp breath.

She let go of Stiles' hand, walking slowly towards the center of the dark room as Stiles approached Scott on the side.

Scott could sense his friend's worry and put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "She's the only shot we've got."

"I'd rather just kill him than have her risk her life." Stiles replied bitterly, shaking his head.

"I know," Scott said quietly. "But she doesn't."

Jackson, in his kanima form, was standing in the middle of the room, ready to attack Derek once again, but as soon as he heard Lydia's footsteps coming from behind him, he turned, snarling and preparing to launch himself on her.

"J-Jackson..." Lydia spoke with such tenderness as she closed her eyes and finally allowed the tears to stream down her face.

She held the key high between the two of them and Jackson abruptly stopped, looking between the key and Lydia's eyes.

He slowly reached out for it, looking at in intensely, his eyes glazed over as the reptilian skin all over his body slowly started to retreat.

Deep down, Jackson's humanity was stronger than any curse, than any monster.

He backed away from Lydia, surrendering himself to his fate. He would have gladly accepted death if it meant keeping the people he loved safe, if it meant keeping _her_ safe. No matter how much he hated to admit it, or how much he tried to hide it, she was the only thing in his life that had ever made any sense, the only person who had never betrayed him, the only person he had ever loved.

Jackson nodded weakly, raising his arms in surrender. Derek and Peter's claws cut through him as he drew in a last breath, gasping for air.

Lydia's eyes widened, a mix of shock and terror on her pale face. She started to move backwards, until her back hit Stiles' chest, his arms quickly going around her weak frame as darkness came over her.

* * *

I know the story is going on kind of slowly at the moment, but I don't like when stories are too rushed and everything important happens in a blur and you can't properly enjoy it, so I hope you'll bear with me and be a little more patience. On the next chapter events will take a bit of a turn. ;)


	3. Disillusion

I love all of your reviews guys, seriously. I would have never thought to get this many people interested in the story so quickly, the Teen Wolf fandom really is the best ever!

Well, from this chapter on, the story will finally start to get more interesting (I guess/hope?), showing more Stiles/Lydia's moments and leaving behind the rest of the actual show's storyline so far in favor of some angst and romance. I truly hope you'll enjoy reading what I've planned out just as much as I'm enjoying writing it, and please remember English is not my first language so I'm sorry for any mistake, you're all free to point them out to me if you spot them, I take criticism fairly well if it's constructive. :)

* * *

Lydia was lying unconscious on Allison's bed, the events of the day having worn her out completely.

They had figured bringing her home after everything that had been going on with her lately wouldn't have been such a good idea, her parents would have gotten too worried and worked up, right when things were finally starting to get better, at least apparently.

Stiles was sitting at the foot of the bed, barely keeping his eyes open. Scott had tried to tell him she wasn't going to wake up anytime soon and that he might as well go get some sleep himself, but Stiles wouldn't budge and, after all, there were more important matters at hand.

Jackson hadn't really died. Among the general surprise, just a few moments after Derek and Peter had technically killed him, he regained consciousness as a wolf, just to pass out once again seconds later. Derek, Scott and Isaac had then disappeared, hours ago already, to bring him at the Hales' mansion and discuss whatever it was that werewolves discussed among themselves.

"You should go home," Allison said softly to Stiles, leaning against the doorpost of her bedroom. He was fighting to stay awake. "I'll call you as soon as she wakes up tomorrow, I promise."

He nodded, groggily sitting up. He _was_ too tired to be of any help to anyone at the moment anyway. After a good night's sleep, he would have been able to take care of Lydia properly, if she was ever going to need anything.

The next morning, Stiles got up fairly late. He had thought that with everything that had happened just the day before, he wasn't going to sleep properly for at least a week, instead he passed out as soon as he touched his bed and woke up the next day at three in the afternoon.

Looking at the alarm clock on his nightstand, he gasped. He immediately checked his phone, but the battery had died.

He muttered something to himself, agitated, quickly connecting the phone to its charger. If anything serious had happened, someone would have surely come looking for him, he thought to himself.

The phone quickly came to life – he had five missing calls and a text from Allison. Lydia was awake.

He took a jelly roll from the kitchen and quickly left with his Jeep. Allison's house was only a few blocks away from his and he got there in less than ten minutes.

Allison was sitting with Scott on her doorstep and the pair got up as soon as they saw Stiles getting out of his car. Allison's eyes widened and Scott looked worried.

"Is she okay?" Stiles asked anxiously, jogging up the steps and entering Allison's house.

"Yes, yes, she's fine, she's fine," Allison answered quickly, grabbing Stiles' shirt to stop him from walking in any further.

Stiles looked between his two friends, knitting his eyebrows in concern. "What's up?"

Scott fidgeted a bit with his hands, looking down at the wooden floor. "Jackson's upstairs with her," he blurted out, bracing himself for his best friend's reaction.

"_Whaaaat?!_" Stiles shrieked. "Are you all out of your freaking minds? I'm going."

But Allison swiftly stopped him again. "He's fine, Stiles, he is. He just wanted to see her, we couldn't say no."

Stiles scoffed. "He has _killed_ people."

"We know. But he wasn't himself, okay. And it's not like they hadn't been around each other when he had already turned into the kanima anyway." Allison pointed out. "Plus, she thought he was dead... she-she wanted to see him as well."

Everything that Allison was saying made perfectly sense, but it still hurt him. She wanted to see Jackson before him? _Of course_ she did. Stiles had only deluded himself into thinking that the night before had changed something between them. Jackson's love for Lydia had saved him from a freaking curse, what screamed 'meant to be' more than that?

Stiles sighed, his head in his hands. He felt so stupid.

"We just wanted to warn you, man. You can go see her if you want to." Scott said, putting a hand on his best friend's shoulder.

Stiles walked upstairs slowly – was he going to interrupt something? Was it rude to go check on her knowing _he_ was with her already? He didn't really care, he just wanted to make sure she was alright, he wanted to see her with his own eyes.

He approached Allison's bedroom cautiously, the door was open and he could hear muffled voices coming from the room. He peeped inside, careful to not let Lydia or Jackson see him.

"It's okay, baby, it's okay. I know," Jackson murmured sweetly, kissing Lydia on the forehead, caressing her hair. They were looking intensely into each other's eyes, smiling almost sadly.

Lydia then angled her head, craning her neck ever so slightly to touch Jackson's lips with hers.

Stiles looked at them mouth agape. He felt like someone had just ripped his heart out of his chest and threw it on the ground to trample on it.

He was feeling sick and he wanted to throw up, he just couldn't watch anymore.

Hurriedly running downstairs, he got out of the house, ignoring Scott's worried attempts to stop him and reason with him. There was nothing to reason about. He was torturing himself over a girl who didn't even care about him enough to want to know if _he_ was okay. Nobody ever cared enough to.

He got into the Jeep and just left.

* * *

Sorry, sorry, sorry, I know this chapter is awfully short but meh – one thing at a time, I felt like this was a good way to end it, don't you just love a tiny cliff-hanger? ;) And if you get me to 15 reviews before the next update I'll love you forever and give you two chapters tomorrow as well. Am I not the nicest? *gives out cookies*

PS. Please check my Stiles/Lydia's one-shot as well, it's called Everything That We Could Be and if I get enough positive feedback I might turn it into a longer story.


	4. Bitterness

Okay, so, I've actually realized that if you update twice on the same day, the site counts it as like you've updated only once, and the story stays low in the sorting list – WTF. How are people supposed to notice I've published another chapter, seriously... I guess only one chapter a day (if I have the time to write it) from now on eh.

* * *

Stiles knew he had probably overreacted about the whole thing – who was he after all to judge what Lydia wanted to do with her life and regarding the Jackson's situation? It wasn't anybody's fault but his own if he couldn't move on from her.

He drove mindlessly for almost two hours, ignoring Scott's texts and phone calls. He only needed to be left alone for a while, it was all he was asking for.

In the meantime, Jackson had left Allison's house just a few minutes after Stiles' departure, and Lydia was still resting in her best friend's bed.

"Do you want something to eat?" Allison asked her kindly, entering the room.

Lydia shook her head. "You don't have to worry about me... you've been going through worse than I did, I'm just fine." She answered, hinting a smile and taking her best friend's hand in hers.

Both girls had had the worst time of their lives in the past few weeks and although they were glad it was finally over, they still needed time to mourn all that they had lost.

Allison sighed, nodding and clearing her throat. "I just-, I know I haven't been a good friend to you lately, and I want you to know that I'm sorry and that I'm here for you."

"It's okay, Allison. There were things going on that were bigger than you and I, I know that now."

The two friends smiled wearily at each other, both still pale and tired. Allison had dark circles under her eyes.

"Did you get any sleep?" Lydia asked, concern evident in her voice. "I'm sorry I stole your bed."

Allison gave a faint laugh. "I spent the night talking to my dad, and then Scott..." she trailed off. "I guess I'll try to get some now."

Lydia nodded. "You know I love you, right?"

Allison smiled and hugged her. "I love you too," she said sweetly, sighing into her best friend's shoulder.

"You get some more sleep, I'll be in the guest room," she said, getting up from the bed before Lydia could protest.

Just as Allison was about to close the door, to give her friend some privacy and quietness, Lydia stopped her. "Wait, I wanted-mmh. Didn't Stiles show up?" she asked, a hint of sadness in her voice. She had hoped to see him after the events of the night before. She felt like they had finally connected somehow, like they could actually finally be friends.

Allison wasn't sure what to answer her – should she lie or tell her friend how profoundly Stiles got hurt at seeing her and Jackson back together?

She chose to go for neither of the two. "Yeah, he was here earlier, I thought he had come to say hi to you," she shrugged, playing dumb. It wasn't a complete lie, after all.

"Oh. No, I didn't see him," Lydia answered meekly, a bit disappointed Stiles hadn't come to see her.

Allison offered her friend an apologetic smile and finally closed the door behind her. It was going to be more complicated that she had thought.

A few days passed, and everyone had gone back to school. It was the last week before summer break after all, and they were sure they could handle it.

Stiles and Scott were walking trough the hallways, headed to their Chemistry class, when they spotted Jackson standing by his locker with Danny. Since after the transformation into a werewolf, Jackson had gotten terribly cockier, but also somehow nicer from time to time, and it made Stiles feel awful for hating him so much, because deep down, he knew that none of what the kanima had done was truly his fault, and he had also witnessed with his own eyes how much he loved Lydia, so much that he was willing to die for her.

Stiles scoffed, and Scott looked at him warily. "Don't start."

Stiles raised his hands obligingly. "I wasn't going to say anything," he replied, laughing – but it was a bitter laugh.

Scott eyed his best friend skeptically. "Allison said Jackson hadn't paid any other visit to Lydia."

Stiles rolled his eyes and didn't answer, dismissively resuming his way to class.

Lunch came around quickly, and Lydia, Allison, Stiles and Scott ended up at the same table in the cafeteria. Isaac was there as well, caught in the middle of an awkward situation he knew nothing about.

Stiles was nervously bouncing his left knee, his foot pounding the floor annoyingly. Lydia was perplexed by his weird behavior, she had tried to make some conversation, asking questions and whatnot, but he would only give her dry, quick answers, so she stopped trying. That resulted in the five of them now eating surrounded by a terribly uncomfortable silence.

Eventually, Stiles couldn't take it anymore, got up, grumpily murmured something no one was actually able to catch, and left the table, hands in his pockets and eyes downcast.

"What's wrong with him?" Isaac asked, bothered, knitting his eyebrows together and eying Stiles' retreating figure.

Lydia looked between Scott and Allison, a confused look on her face – they had to know what was going on, and she demanded to know as well.

"Lydia," Scott started. "You have to know Stiles has feelings for you, right?"

She simply shrugged, not sure in which direction the conversation was headed – what did that have to do with anything?

Scott sighed. "He's-ehm. He's a bit hurt you got back together with Jackson after everything he had put you through, that's all. Give him some time and I'm sure you two will be able to be friends." He explained, but it almost came out as a question.

"_What_?" Lydia looked bewildered, eyes wide and mouth agape. Then, she scoffed. "I'm not _that_ stupid, thank you very much." She stated, flipping her strawberry blonde hair back. "Me and Jackson are not together anymore."

* * *

Ta-daaaaaaaaaah! Not sure if anyone's actually surprised by this, but yeah – sorry Jackson, you act like an ***hole once, no more Lydia. Kidding, kidding, I love Jackson and he's going to be _aweeeesome_ and good in this story, everyone is, but no Jackson/Lydia, not yet at least.

Review if you want a hug from Isaac! *pats Isaac on the head*


	5. Honesty

Okay, okay, little story time before this new chapter – lol. Well, we all know Stiles and Lydia are, like, the modern Seth and Summer (which is why they _are_ going to happen eventually, or I'll not so graciously cut someone's head off – just kidding, just kidding... I guess), and since I can safely say that The OC has been my childhood/early-teenage-years tv series and the only show I've ever loved as much as I love Teen Wolf now, I've been re-reading some Seth/Summer fanfictions lately and while I was writing this chapter, at one point, when it's supposed to say 'Stiles', I wrote 'Cohen' instead, and oh my, it was so funny when I noticed and had to correct that, ahah.

Anyway, I'm pretty sure none of you cared but I just really wanted to share this little thing with you... hope you'll enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

The school day passed quickly, and Stiles and Lydia didn't see each other again.

Lydia was annoyed at Stiles' attitude. Of course she knew Stiles had a thing for her – who didn't? – but at the end of the day, it was none of his business whether she wanted to get back together with Jackson or not. She hated how everyone thought he was a bad person, whoever _really_ knew him, like her and Danny, knew he was a caring and nice boy deep down, he was just a bit of a show-off and liked to always be at the top, even if that meant being mean or commanding other people around. It was just who he was.

Therefore, even though Allison tried to persuade her out of it more than once, Lydia was dead set on going to Stiles' house after school to talk to him.

She wasn't sure what she was going to tell him, she knew she shouldn't have to apologize for giving him the impression of being with Jackson again, but there was a voice in the back of her head that kept telling her she had to clear the air between them. He had helped her a lot when she needed someone the most and didn't have anybody else to turn to, and she didn't want to ruin what they had created because of a stupid misunderstanding.

Part of her, the one that made her heart beat impossibly faster when she hugged him in his room the other night, and that felt disappointed when he didn't show up to check on her the following morning, was bugging her, telling her that that wasn't the only reason why she wanted to explain the situation to him, but she tried to ignore it the best she could. After everything that had happened recently, she wanted to keep everything in her life as simple as she could. Stiles was a certainty for her at the moment, he was safety, and she wasn't willing to do anything to risk that.

The doorbell startled Stiles, interrupting his gloomy musings. His dad was at the station and wasn't going to be home before late night, leaving him to try and cook himself something edible enough for dinner even if he would have gladly let himself starve to death in the mood he currently was.

He grumpily went to get the door, annoyed – he certainly wasn't in the mood to have guests over and chit chat.

"Coming," he half shouted lazily as he opened the door, only to be left mouth agape at the sight of Lydia right in front of him. "Lydia." He said in awe, almost as if he thought she was going to disappear any moment.

Lydia eyed him weirdly, walking past him as she let herself in – it wasn't the first time she was in his house after all, and she had come quite familiar with its surroundings already.

Stiles closed the door behind him, almost in a trance-like state. "What-what are you doing here?" he stuttered.

Lydia wasn't one for beating around the bush, so she cut straight to the point. "Scott told me you're mad at me because I got back together with Jackson?"

Stiles' eyes widened, and he didn't quite know what to say. He felt like a fish out of water, transported into a parallel universe where nothing made sense anymore.

Lydia was already losing her nerve, hands on her hips and heel tapping the floor impatiently. Since it looked like he wasn't going to answer anytime soon, she went on. "Because, you know, you, like,_ like me_?" she pointed out, in a casual tone, as if she was talking about the weather or something else.

Stiles almost choked, blushing profusely all over his face – that wasn't exactly how he had thought a possible confrontation might have played out. "I-I-mmh, that's not-I don't-_ugh_." Letting his head fall into his hands, he huffed.

Suddenly, he felt her warm hand on his shoulder. "Well, just so we're clear, I'm not."

Stiles raised his head slowly, afraid to meet her eyes. "You're not _what_?" he asked, looking genuinely lost.

She looked at him almost sympathetically, a small, kind smile playing on her glossy, pink, plump lips. "I'm not _with Jackson_."

Those four little words completely changed the look on Stiles' face – his eyes lit up and he started grinning. He knew he was being terribly obvious, but he honestly couldn't help himself if he tried.

He gave a fake cough, trying to hide his joy. "Uhm, okay. Good," he mumbled, nodding his head. "Good."

Lydia was looking straight into his chocolate brown eyes, trying not to laugh at how cute and adorable he looked at the moment.

"I mean, not good-_good_," he started to blurt out. "I'm sorry you two broke up or-or whatever, and-mh, you know I'm-I'm happy he's okay, yeah, I'm-," he gulped as Lydia put one of her fingers on his lips to shut him up.

She was grinning from ear to ear and shaking her head at his antics. "It's okay," she nodded, smiling up at him.

He nodded as well, looking at her in awe. When she retreated her finger from his lips, he exhaled a breath he didn't he was holding. "Okay."

Some time passed as neither of the two said anything, looking around the room. Stiles felt like it was his moment to give her some kind of explanation. "I'm sorry," he blurted out, so quickly she almost didn't catch it. He cleared his throat and continued. "I know I had no right to snap like that over _that. _It's not my place to judge."

Lydia simply shrugged. "I guess you were looking out for me," she replied, smiling slightly. "In your own twisted way," she added with a roll of her eyes, grinning.

Stiles couldn't help but smile too – she was right after all. No need to add the part where the crazy jealousy kicked in as well.

"We can be friends?" She intended to just say it, but it came out as a question. "I can't be more for you right now," she added, immediately mentally slapping herself at her unintentional slip. She didn't mean for it to come out _like that_, all awkward and somewhat promising.

The subtle meaning of course didn't go lost to Stiles – she had said _right now_, making the future look impossibly brighter to his eyes.

_He had a chance_.

* * *

I was almost tempted to not write any bottom notes, but that's just so not like me because I'm the most annoying person ever so, yeah.

Review and I'll send you the first three lines of the next chapter, if you want me to. ;)


	6. Normality

Longest chapter so farrrr, yeyyyy! Which means it probably has the most mistakes? *cringes* I know I should probably look for a beta since English is not my first language, but I like to update daily so that probably wouldn't really work out... please tell me if you spot any error, though. :)

Enjoy!

* * *

After that talk with Lydia at his house, a huge grin had made its way on Stiles' face and just wouldn't leave.

Him and Lydia were spending any free moment they had together. They were the least caught up in all that werewolves mess among their friends, and spending time together, away from all that chaos and all those never-ending problems, felt incredibly nice and refreshing, it felt normal, and on top of all, it felt _right_.

Most times, they would simply hang out at each other's place, Stiles reading or playing videogames, and Lydia flipping through some new fashion magazine she had bought or painting her nails. They would spend hours and hours just in complete silence, but it wasn't awkward at all, both of them just enjoyed the feeling of security and peace the presence of the other so close gave them.

Scott found their relationship odd, but Stiles wasn't surely going to take any love advice from his friend, and anyhow, after years of crushing on Lydia while she wouldn't even acknowledge him, he was perfectly fine with just being friends for a while and taking things slow. He would take anything Lydia was willing to give him for now, her words from last week still crystal clear in his mind – _'I can't be more for you right now'_, _'right now'_, he had hope.

–

Summer vacation had just started, and everything seemed perfect.

"Aw, _please Allison_!" Lydia whined, lying on her best friend's bed. "I wanna spend a _normal_ summer, okay? That means having _normal_ nights out, like _normal_ teenagers," she pleaded, stressing the word '_normal_' – if only they were.

Allison rolled her eyes, trying on a pair of jeans in front of the mirror. "I do too, but," she sighed. "Me and Scott broke up, Lydia."

It was Lydia's turn to roll her eyes. "So what? He probably won't even be there, he will probably be on some werewolf duty, or something." She replied, moving to a sitting position on the bed.

"But you said Stiles will be there," Allison retorted, giving her best friend a stern look.

"It doesn't mean Scott will, too," she shrugged. "It's not like they're attached at the hip or something."

"Oh, _you would know_," Allison smirked, turning to her friend with a knowing look.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lydia asked accusingly, narrowing her eyes to give her friend a death glare.

"Well, _you_ and Stiles look pretty attached at the hip lately." Allison stated matter-of-factly, shrugging.

Lydia scoffed and lied on the bed once again. She remained silent for a few moments, then sighed. "Is that a bad thing?" she asked softly.

Allison joined her friend on the bed. "Of course not," she replied. "I was just kidding." She said, playfully poking Lydia on the shoulder. The latter looked up and smiled. "I actually think you two would make a great couple," she offered genuinely. Allison knew just how much Stiles loved Lydia, she knew he would always look out for her and care for her, and that was exactly what her best friend needed and deserved, someone who would love her as unconditionally as Stiles did.

Lydia looked torn. She wanted to retort that, to be fair, Allison used to think that her and Scott made a great couple as well, but she knew it wasn't the right time at all. What was going on between her best friend and Scott was beyond human control, but after all, aren't the best things the ones that you have to work on the hardest?

"Whatever," Lydia eventually said, getting up from the bed and retrieving her brown leather jacket from a chair. "You're coming."

–

Stiles huffed, looking over at Isaac sitting next to him on the bench. "Are you supposed to be, like, my bodyguard?"

Isaac rolled his eyes, smirking. "You always seem to get yourself in a bit of a trouble, so," he answered in that annoying English accent of his Lydia had called 'dreamy' more than once.

Stiles snorted. "Shouldn't you have something more important to do than looking after me while eating fries?"

All Isaac did was shrugging – he wasn't much of a talker, fully noted.

After a few minutes of silence, Isaac finally spoke up. "You're lucky, you know." Stiles looked at him with a puzzled expression and so he went on. "I don't mind being stronger and faster, and all the confidence bust, but sometimes I just wish I could live as a normal teenager, you know."

Stiles looked at him sympathetically, nodded, and then looked down at his own hands, rubbing them together – it was freezing cold.

Isaac continued. "Even before, I had, well, _issues_," he said, laughing bitterly – that was a bit of understatement. "With my father, of course. I feel like I've never really lived as a normal teenager." He hesitated for a moment, almost fearing that he was revealing too much. "You-you have the chance to just ignore all this supernatural thing whenever you want, and just be normal, because _you are_. Don't take it for granted."

Stiles remained bewildered by how open-hearted Isaac had spoken, his heart breaking at the sadness in his words.

"That's why I offered to come with you tonight. I wanted to feel normal." Isaac concluded, looking at Stiles with his eyebrows raised – could anyone fault him for that?

Silence encompassed the two boys again. Stiles had never really seen the situation that way, but thinking about how he felt when he was with Lydia, how normal and happy she made him feel, he could one-hundred-percent understand what Isaac meant, and he felt terribly sorry for his friend. It was like Stiles had a sort of switch, he could decide to stay completely away from werewolves if he wanted to, Isaac didn't.

The sound of heels clicking a few feet away from them interrupted the moment.

"Your lady's here," Isaac stated with a hint of jealousy, raising to his feet.

Lydia and Allison came into view some seconds later. "See? No Scott!" Lydia pointed out cheerfully – being right always gave her a particular kind of joy.

Allison was sulking, walking by her side. She simply hummed at her friend. "Hey guys."

As soon as she noticed Isaac, Lydia clapped her hands excitedly. "We're four, that's perfect!"

The other three looked at her questioningly and Lydia rolled her eyes at them. "You can't take funny rides like the steering wheel if you're not in an even number," she stated like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Come on!" she urged, taking Stiles' hand and dragging him towards the entrance of the carnival, leaving Allison and Isaac to trail after them awkwardly.

"It's going to be a very long night," both said at the same time, sighing through their gritted teeth.

* * *

Okay, okay, this is by a country mile my favorite chapter so far! I mean, can I even have a favorite chapter since it's my story, is that weird? Well, I don't care, because I have. It was so much fun to write, finally having some new characters other than Stiles and Lydia to speak up and stuff. I always love writing Lydia/Allison scenes because I think their friendship is amazing and it should be more covered in the show. Also, seriously, Isaac is my baby and this thing just came into my mind and I couldn't _not_ write it so, yeah.

Also, a little warning – if this looked a bit cliché to you, I apologize, but remember it's Teen Wolf we're talking about, you never really know what's going to happen. *evil laughter* Oh my God, writing makes me feel so powerful! ;D

See you tomorrow for the next chapter!


	7. Fear

READ - Summer's ending *sigh sigh* and today I've eventually gave in and picked up my school textbooks again... in fact, I sadly have to inform you that I might not be able to keep updating daily because I really need to start working on my summer homework which I've been neglecting for the past three months – whoops – and this upcoming year is going to be my last year of high school so I'm going to be super stressed and whatnot, ugh. I'll try to do my best updating as regularly as I can, so don't forget to review because feedback certainly makes me want to write more and better!

Hope you'll enjoy this chapter! :)

* * *

"You're probably too short to get on the steering wheel anyway," Stiles joked, slightly tickling Lydia on the side.

"Ahah, funny Stilinski, you're _oh so funny_," she retorted, rolling her eyes at his immaturity and pushing his hands away as they waited in line for their turn. As much as she tried to, she just could never be really mad at him for more than a second, and even then she was fighting to hide her grin – he really made her happy.

Stiles loved how carefree and spontaneous he could be around Lydia, it was like the rest of the world disappeared. He knew he was in love with her before, but actually spending time with her only added to it, he had never felt that happy with another person.

Allison and Isaac were in line just behind them, trying to ignore the pair in front of them the best they could.

"With everything we've already seen, _for real_, I don't get why we have to try this stupid haunted house," Isaac mumbled, annoyed.

Lydia sighed. "Ugh Lahey, don't be such a party pooper!" She whined, playfully smacking Stiles' arm.

"Ouch! Why did _I_ get the slap?" Stiles protested, feigning to be hurt and rubbing his arm, earning a death glare from Lydia.

"Oh my, you two are so cute," Allison let slip out, clamping her hands over her mouth immediately after. "I didn't mean to say it out loud," she said, looking apologetically at her best friend, who was now blushing from head to toe.

Isaac started laughing wholeheartedly, patting Stiles on the back and almost making him choke. Lydia narrowed her eyes at Allison, and then at Isaac, turning her head the other way, offended.

Eventually, it was their turn. Only two people at a time could get into the haunted house, and so Stiles and Lydia left their two friends to wait outside and ventured inside excitedly.

"Tell me again why we're doing this?" Isaac asked while looking down at Allison, arms crossed on his chest.

"Because we are very good friends?" she offered tentatively, but she wasn't so sure herself anymore.

In the meantime, Stiles and Lydia were walking blindly through the rooms of the supposedly haunted house.

"Ugh, it's so freaking dark in here!" Lydia whined, leading the way. She was holding Stiles' hand tightly and he was happily following wherever she went.

"What did you expect?" Stiles retorted, rolling his eyes. "It's a _haunted_ house, it's supposed to be scary."

"Well, but it _is_ scary," she stated, fear somewhat evident in her voice.

Stiles squeezed her hand to reassure her. "It's all fake," he reminded her.

Lydia nodded, more to herself than to Stiles, surrounded by nothing but darkness as they were he surely couldn't see her. She was smart enough not to let a freaking fake haunted house at a carnival scare her, right?

Suddenly, she screamed.

"Lydia?" Stiles called, his voice full of concern.

"Something just freaking touched my ankle," she answered shakily. "Can we just get the hell out of here, _please_?" Knowing that monsters actually _did_ exist out there in the world, made everything look a lot scarier – they weren't just children's stories, and she knew that.

The two kept walking, looking for an exit. Everything was silent, apart for the clicking of Lydia's heels and their ragged breathing.

"Maybe I could light up the place a bit with my phone?" Stiles offered. But of course, Stiles being Stiles, the phone fell to the ground as soon as he managed to fish it out of his jeans' pocket. "Dammit!" he cursed.

"What happened?" Lydia asked agitatedly, feeling Stiles pulling at her hand.

"Nothing, nothing, I dropped my phone," he huffed. "I'm just gonna look for it real quick, okay? _Don't move_." He said, letting go of her hand and kneeling to the ground, feeling around in search of his phone.

Outside, Isaac and Allison were still waiting in line for their turn, eventually talking about this or that thing.

Isaac looked around him awkwardly. "Would you like some cotton candy?" he offered with a coy smile.

"Sure, thank you," Allison answered, smiling right back at him.

"It'll only be a moment," he said before running towards the cotton candy stand.

Allison put her hands in her coat's pockets, the night was really chilly, and you would have never guessed it was summer already.

In the haunted house, Stiles was still desperately looking for his phone, with Lydia tapping her foot impatiently beside him.

"Found it yet?" she asked, bothered. "I don't wanna stay here all night."

Stiles rolled his eyes in the dark, a small smile playing on his lips. "Maybe you could help me looking?" he pointed out.

Lydia sighed and knelt down next to Stiles. "Maybe we should just leave and you could buy a new phone?" she retorted, both annoyed and amused by the situation. Trust Stiles to make a walk through a supposedly haunted house so awkward and complicated.

"And stop trying to cope a feel, Stilinski, will you?" she warned, breathing a laugh.

"I'm not doing anything, Lydia," Stiles replied seriously.

"Then wha-" Lydia suddenly screamed, and felt herself being dragged across the floor.

"Lydia? Lydia?" Stiles raised to his feet, panicky, frenetically looking around in the dark and crying out the girl's name. "_Lydia_?"

Isaac, still at the cotton candy stand, with his enlightened wolf senses, of course heard the screams coming from inside the house, and immediately started looking around for Allison.

There were too many people walking around and he couldn't see her in front of the haunted house where he had left her just a few minutes ago.

Just then, Lydia exited the haunted house laughing, Stiles following behind her with a not so amused expression on his face. "It wasn't funny, okay?" he spatted, arms folded across his chest, but Lydia just kept on laughing.

Isaac joined them, breathless and panic evident on his face. "Guys, Allison is missing."

* * *

Uh-la-la! What happened to Allison?

And just to be clear, it's not like Lydia pulled a prank on Stiles, someone had actually grabbed her but it was just all part of the haunted house thingy to scare the people who would go in. Lydia found it quite funny, Stiles didn't – obviously.

Also, I know most/all of you ship Scott/Allison but, I don't know, writing this story is kinda giving me Isaac/Allison feels so I might actually give it a try? And sorry if nothing much has happened between Stiles and Lydia yet but, like I said, I don't like to rush into things and I don't want to lose the scary edge of the show, so.

Review and Isaac will buy you some cotton candy! Hopefully you won't disappear in the meantime like someone else we know. *scoffs*


	8. Tenderness

Enjoy the reading, reviews are love!

* * *

Scott was freaking out, pulling at his hair and hopelessly pacing around the main room of the Argents' house where everyone was gathered. His face was as pale as death and he kept repeating Allison's name over and over again like a lost soul. He looked so helplessly distraught that even Mr. Argent was trying to calm him down – they had to be lucid if they wanted to find Allison.

It wasn't however very easy to not feel troubled or worried – they had no idea who had kidnapped her, and they didn't know how to proceed. Yes, they were fairly sure it was the alpha pack's doing, but they yet had to find a way to track them down, and if weeks of working on it had only brought to dead ends, how were they now supposed to achieve the task in the matter of a couple of hours, if not less? They couldn't know how much more time Allison had, or even if she was still alive for that matter.

Those thoughts were gnawing everyone in the room, but no one had the courage to voice them – they knew it wasn't the time to talk, they had to act, and they had to act fast.

No matter how much they wanted to help, there was very little either Stiles or Lydia could do, especially since Lydia was too shaken up to do anything much aside from breathing and crying. She had been the one to persuade Allison to attend the carnival with her while she didn't even want to go, and now that her best friend had disappeared, she had no one but herself to blame.

Stiles had brought her upstairs and into the guest room as soon as they had arrived at the Argents' house. She wouldn't stop crying, and she kept clutching Stiles' shirt tightly with her fingers.

They sat together on the bed.

"Ssh, Lydia, ssh," he cooed sweetly. She was tucked tightly into his side, wetting his shirt with her tears. He pushed a strand of her strawberry blonde curls away from her eyes, kissing the top of her head. "They will find her, okay. Scott will find her," he reassured her, cupping her face in his hands and wiping away some of her tears.

Lydia sniffed, raising her eyes to meet Stiles' stare, intense and adoring. She nodded, leaning forward and nuzzling into the crook of his neck.

No matter how terribly guilty that made him feel given the circumstances, Stiles just couldn't help the way his heartbeat quickened at Lydia's closeness. She was so warm and soft against him, and she smelt like lilac and happiness, and everything that's right in the world.

"Everything is going to be okay," he promised, caressing her hair softly. He felt her nodding into his neck.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, then Lydia slowly raised her head to look at him. "Stiles," she whispered, and it sounded like a prayer on her lips. She slowly brought her hand to his face, caressing his cheek with her knuckles. There was so much tenderness in that simple, innocent gesture that it made him want to cry, shuddering under her touch.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," she admitted haltingly, her voice barely more than a whisper.

Stiles' lips parted in a silent plea, as he looked between her forest green eyes and her luscious lips. "I'll always be here for you," he breathed out as their noses touched.

"I know," was all Lydia replied before finally closing what little space was left between them.

It wasn't a heavy kiss, it was sweet and slow, it was Stiles and Lydia. Holding onto one another for dear life.

He held her gently, cradling her face in his hands like she was the most precious possession in the world – and to Stiles, she was. He knew she was still shaken up and distraught over the events of the night, but he was also one-hundred-percent sure that her current fragile state had nothing to do with their kiss. Because that moment right there, _that_, that was the build up of week after week of spending every second together, constantly somehow touching one another, laughing and smiling coyly, holding hands and just being happy. And neither of them would have traded it for anything else in the world.

She tugged at the lapels of his button-up shirt, bringing him impossibly closer to her. She needed to feel him against her, she needed to make sure that it was real, that it was really, finally happening, that he was really there with her, kissing her like the world might end tomorrow. And for all they knew, it actually might. Their lives, whether they wanted it or not, and whether it was or not their fault, were completely messed up, out of control, and no matter how much they could pretend everything was just fine, there was nothing they could do to fix everything that was already irremediably broken. They were however also well aware that all that craziness, that all that pain and suffering, was what had brought them together in the first place, and they couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful for that.

After a few more burning moments, they parted, breaking the kiss, both breathless but with radiant smiles on their faces.

Stiles still had his eyes half closed, and opening them to see Lydia, all messy hair and flushed cheeks, with her lips swollen, made his stomach flip – he had done that to her, _his kiss_ had done that to her.

He caressed her forehead sweetly, pushing back a strand of hair that had fallen in front of her eyes, pecking her lips again briefly, once, twice, three times. Then, he ran his hands through her strawberry blonde locks to hold her firmly as he kissed her more deeply.

After that last kiss, they both sighed, foreheads touching and eyes looking intensely into each other's.

"It's late, we should get you home," Stiles whispered. He didn't want to let go of her, but he knew she was tired and he was worried about her.

Lydia shook her head, the tears threatening to overflow once again. "Both my parents are away, I was supposed to stay here for a couple of days," she said between hushed sobs.

Stiles took her small, trembling hand in his much bigger one and intertwined their fingers, a sense of peace immediately spread through Lydia's whole body and she felt calmer.

"It's okay," he said. "I'll stay with you," he promised her, drawing soothing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.

Lydia nodded slowly, leaning forward for one last peck before the two of them lied on the Argents' guest room's bed together and, despite the jumpiness and the fear that the night's events had caused, quickly fell asleep in each other's arms.

* * *

Okay, should we point out the big, pink elephant in the room? Because seriously, bad Stiles and Lydia, _bad_! You're not supposed to make out while one of your best friends has just been kidnapped, okay – duh – how insensitive. *shakes head*

Joking aside, I must say that I'm really proud of how this first kiss scene turned out, I can just picture Stiles and Lydia's first kiss to be just like that (because yes, they _are_ going to kiss eventually and we all know it, okay? *death glare* Mmh, good), all sweet and, I don't know, not awkward or weird at all, but life-shattering or something because it's just right and exactly what they're meant to be doing? Does that even make any sense to you? No, eh? Okay, I'll just crawl back to my corner and ship them by myself. ;_;

Anyhow, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter just as much as I've enjoyed writing it aaaaand, just let me feel the love/hate people, please, because I'm starting to think that I'm writing everything just for myself, and I'm not _that_ self-centered – or am I? – lol.

Have a good rest of the day!


	9. Balance

I kinda feel the need to tell you that I've finished up this chapter in a very _very_ weird mood because, ugh, none of you probably cares about football but Robin van Persie – Google him if you want, that backstabber – keeps breaking my heart day after day and I just want him to suck so badly which he doesn't and that makes me really annoyed. Anyway, thank God I'm a Goonerette because seriously, _feelings_.

Okay, sorry for the rant, hope you'll enjoy the chapter! :)

* * *

Being completely exhausted after everything that had happened the night earlier, Stiles and Lydia didn't wake up before around noon, feeling comfortable and safe in each other's arms.

The first to wake up was Stiles, a content smile on his face that disappeared as soon as he remembered ___why _in the first place he had ended up falling asleep with Lydia on the guest room's bed of the Argents' house.

He sighed, tightening his hold on her, snuggled cozily into his side and head on his chest, fisting his shirt with her delicate hands, almost as she feared he would suddenly disappear – didn't she know there was literally _nothing_ in the world that could ever make him leave her?

Lydia stirred after a few minutes, humming into his chest. "Hey," she mumbled sleepily, opening her eyes to look up at him with those two forest green gems of hers that always managed to have him mesmerized.

Messy hair, plump lips and eyes half-closed, her soft, warm body right against his – she had never looked more beautiful to Stiles.

He smiled, wishing he could just stop time right then and there and relive that moment over and over again for the rest of his life. He knew, that outside that room, anything could have happened during the night, possibly something that could change their lives forever, that could push them apart again, something that could ruin them and destroy them.

He ran his left hand through her strawberry blonde locks, pushing away the curls that had dared falling on her forehead. "Hey yourself," he replied tenderly, leaning down a bit to kiss her.

Lydia's hands immediately went into his hair, making him groan as he urgently made his way into her mouth, tongues battling against one another for dominance. He was just about to push himself even closer to her when suddenly she broke away from the kiss, looking everywhere but into his eyes.

He put his hand under her chin and lifted her head, forcing her to look at him. "What's wrong?" he asked, concern evident in his sparkling brown eyes and soft tone.

A single tear rolled down her eyes and then her cheek. "I'm an awful person," she sobbed into her hands, clamped over her mouth. She was trembling and shaking her head.

Stiles didn't have to question her further, he knew exactly what she meant because, as much as he kept telling himself that he didn't have to, that's how he had been feeling too, ever since their first kiss the previous night.

He cupped her face in his hands gently and looked fiercely right into her glossy eyes. "I know all of this is hard on you, baby," and he hesitated a moment after he called her ___'baby' __– _it was the first time, but it felt so damn natural. "But we can't stop our lives just because this town is like a nuthouse."

Lydia raised her eyes to look at him, and they stared into each other's eyes for a few moments – it felt like staring into each other's soul.

Eventually, Lydia nodded, slowly, feeling a tad better but still not thoroughly at ease_. _Her best friend had been kidnapped and for all she knew could possibly be dead, and still, she was sitting there, sharing kisses with Stiles like everything was all joy and rainbows in the world? She felt dirty, she felt _selfish_.

She raised to a sitting position, and Stiles followed suit. Sensing her distress, he leaned forward once again to kiss her, cupping her chin delicately.

He held her close, his hands working up her back as she hummed appreciatively into his lips, making his heart beat excitedly into his chest. They were sitting side by side, and when after a few moments it became slightly uncomfortable to kiss in that position, Lydia instinctively moved to sit on Stiles' lap, causing his breath to hitch in his throat.

They stayed like that for a few more minutes, just kissing and holding onto each other. When they parted, they were both breathless but had bright smiles on their faces.

Lydia bit down on her bottom lip, her eyes boring into Stiles' chocolate brown ones, filled with love and also determination. She gripped his shoulders a little more firmly as she realized, that no matter what was going on in their and their friends' lives, there was no way she was going to feel guilty for _that_, because being that way, ___with Stiles_, could never feel anything but right.

He smiled at her, caressing her back. "We should get up," he told her in a sad tone. He didn't want to leave either, but there was only so much time they could hide away from their problems for.

She sighed, nodding dejectedly and moving off his lap. She was so terribly scared, anything could have happened outside that room in a night, and she didn't know if the fact that nobody had come to wake them up meant that everything was okay or that nothing was.

Stiles could sense her worry, because it was just the same as his, and no matter how much he wanted to comfort her, he just couldn't bring himself to tell her that everything was okay or was going to be, because he honestly didn't believe it himself. He knew that even if maybe Allison was back home safe and sound already, it was just a matter of time before something equally as terrible or even worse happened.

He offered her his hand and they got up from the bed together, slowly walking towards the door, hoping to be ready for whatever was waiting for them outside that room.

"Wait," Lydia halted after a few steps, pulling at Stiles' hand_. _They were in front of one another and he was several feet taller than her even if she was on her toes – she angled her head towards him and he met her halfway, cupping her cheeks.

It was just a peck, but they both knew what it meant. It meant 'thank you' and 'we don't need any words', it meant that even if neither of them had actually said it out loud, they were together through it all, because she was his and he was hers, and no matter what, they were always going to be.

* * *

I really love this chapter, if I might say so myself, but I feel like I could have definitely written it a lot better had I been in a better mood (?).

Hopefully you liked it all the same, and please review if you did! ;D


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